From: way (way@warehouse.net)
Date: Sun Jan 17 1999 - 17:11:46 MST
> Subject: Re: Animal rights
>
> "Mark D. Fulwiler" wrote:
>
> > I have a friend who is trying to convince me that torturing cats
should
> > be legal ......snip..........
> > At any rate, I pointed out to him that I don't give a damn about
what
> > Miss Rand thinks about the "rights" of sadistic cat torturers, but
if he
> > had a good extralegal solution to the problem of cruelty to animals
, I
> > would entertain the idea. He doesn't think people should torture
cats,
> > only that it should be legally allowed.
> >
> > I have two cats, so I am a bit biased in favor of the critters.
> >
>
> Well, are your cats fixed? That seems to me to be (presupposing the
animal
> rights argument) to be as torturous as female circumcision in
humans....
>
> Mike Lorrey
>
Yes, my cats are fixed. You cannot get a cat from the Humane Society
that has not been fixed. (This is done using an anesthetic, so the cat
does not suffer.) Yes, I suppose an animal "rights" person could argue
that you are denying cats the experience of sexual pleasure. However,
the consequences of not sterilizing some cats and letting them all "do
their thing" would be millions more strays running around leading
miserable lives, getting diseases, starving to death and being squashed
by cars. Just taking a purely utilitarian approach towards animal
welfare (forget "rights") argues strongly in favor of sterilization.
Also, I doubt very much whether sterilized cats really are in terrible
psychic agony over their condition, unlike humans.
I really have not come across a good argument for twisting cats necks
and throwing them against a wall. The question is whether this ought to
be legally prohibited or not.
Mark D. Fulwiler
...
Since nanoyear is around 2020 and the genome mapping projects are
nearing completion, along with 10 year timeframes for at least one
memory enhancement therapy, the logical thing to do would depend on the
age of your cat. Cats in my experience have lived anything from 12 years
to 22 years, although around 14 is probably the common limit currently.
Therefore, yearly contraceptive implants in your cat would be the trick
ethically. In only a few years, and certainly under a decade, you can
start to boost your cat, and eventually seek its opinion more fully. The
main thing to concentrate on would be extra lifespan. After nanoyear you
can have your own private animal hospital service in your backyard
gunkpool and manufacture appropriate intra-cellular nanotechnology. If
your cat is older, however, you will probably have to spend a
substantial sum of money (while money is around) to give it a chance,
and if it is now two or three years from apparent death then
sterilization may be the humane option, although I would always allow
one litter for a female cat, since they seem to like having them in my
assessment.
As for killing any animal, this should be legally prohibited in my
opinion. Such a prohibition would be a prelude to the institution of
non-force (i.e. against non-consensual force), which applies across the
post-Escalation worlds. This is effected by protective screening from
more complex universal consciousness (i.e. the largest group mind
matrixes).
Avatar Polymorph
28 before Escalation
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